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Raphael

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This article is about the Renaissance artist. For other uses, please see Raphael (disambiguation).
Self-portrait by Raphael.

Raphael or Raffaello (April 6 1483 – April 6, 1520) was a master painter and architect of the Florentine school in the Italian High Renaissance, celebrated for the perfection and softness of his paintings. He was also called Raffaello Sanzio, Raffaello Santi, Raffaello da Urbino or Rafael Sanzio da Urbino.

Biography

The surname Sanzio derives from the latinization of the Italian, Santi, into Santius (also, when signing solely using his baptismal name, "Raphael"). His father, Santi Giovanni, was also a painter in the court of Urbino.

In 1491 his mother Màgia died and his father then died on 1 August 1494. Thus orphaned at eleven, Raffaello was entrusted to his uncle Bartolomeo, a priest. He had already shown talent , as recounted by Giorgio Vasari, his contemporary - he tells that since childhood Raphael had been "a great help to his father". Unfortunately it is not known precisely how Raphael assisted and, lacking any documentation on this part of his life, his formative phase remains unknown.

Nevertheless, in Urbino he came into contact with the works of Uccello and Signorelli. The most obvious influence on his early first works is that of Pietro Vannucci, aka Perugino. According to Vasari, on a trip to Perugia with his father, Raphael impressed Perugino.

His first documented work was an altarpiece for the church of San Nicola of Tolentino in Castello, a town halfway between Perugia and Urbino. It was ordered in 1500 and finished in 1501 (it was later seriously damaged during an earthquake in 1789 and today only fragments of it remain). In the following years he painted works for other churches there (like the Wedding of the Virgin, today at Brera) and for Perugia.

In 1504 he went to Florence, where he learnt lessons from Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo. He spent a large part of 4 years there (the so-called "Florentine period"), but continued to travel to and work in other places (Perugia, Urbino and perhaps also Rome). He made friends with the local painters, particularly Bartolomeo, one of those who influenced him to leave behind the thin style and graceful of the Perugino for more grandiose and powerful forms.

At the end of 1508, he moved permanently to Rome and was immediately commissioned by Julius II to paint some of the rooms at his palace at the Vatican. This marked a turning point - beforehand he was only twenty-five years old, an artist in formation, and had not received commissions of such importance and prestige. He well exploited the situation, and remained almost exclusively in the service of Julius and his successor Leo X

In 1514 he was named architect of the new St Peter's. Much of his works there were altered or demolished after his death, but he built other buildings and for a short while was the most important architect in Rome, as well as the most important painter. In 1515 he was entrusted with the preservation and recording of the Vatican collections of ancient sculpture.

After his arrival in Rome portraits became a secondary task for Raphael as he devoted his efforts to the great Vatican projects, although he still painted portraits of his 2 main patrons, the two popes Julius II and his successor Leo X, the latter being considered one of his finest portraits.


One of his most important papal commissions was the series of 10 cartoons for tapestries with scenes of the lives of Saint Paul and Saint Peter, intended as wall decoration for the Sistine Chapel. The cartoons were sent to Bruxelles to be sewn in the workshop of Pier van Aelst; the first three tapestries were sent to Rome in 1519. It is possible that Raphael saw the finished series before his death — they were completed in 1520 for Leo X.

The Fornarina.

Raffaello never married but it appears that in 1514 he was engaged to Maria Bibbiena (a cardinal's granddaughter), terminated by her death. The other woman to his name is "La Fornarina", a courtesan linked to him, if she ever really existed. According to Vasari his premature death on Good Friday, 6 April, 1520, was caused by an excessive night of sex with her, after which he fell into a fever and, not telling his doctors that this was its cause, was given the wrong cure, which killed him. (Vasari underlines that Raphael was also born on a Good Friday, in 1483, on 27th or 28th March.) As he had asked, he was buried in the Pantheon

Raphael was highly admired by his contemporaries. When compared to Michelangelo and Titian, he was sometimes considered inferior to those masters. At the same time, it was maintained that none of them shared all the qualities possessed by Raphael, "ease" in particular.

File:Sybils Raphael.jpg
Sybils, fresco in the church of Santa Maria della Pace in Rome.

Chronology of main works

Madonna with the Fish.
File:Julius II Raphael.jpg
Portrait of Julius II.
Spasimo.
Portrait of Baldassare Castiglione.
Saint George.

See also

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Raffaello Sanzio.
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